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The DC Extended Universe got off to a shaky start with the dullMan of Steelmisrepresenting Superman , Batman v Supermanpacking seven or eight movies ’ Charles Frederick Worth of story into just one , and a rushedSuicide Squadmovie spelling out exposition to the audience . However , then Patty Jenkins’Wonder Womancame along to salvage the enfranchisement , essay thatstandalone picture with care for their part could be the way frontward . James Wan continued this gain bar withAquaman . It was n’t a perfect flick , but it was definitely a vast improvement overMan of Steel . Here is DCEU : 5 thing James Wan’sAquamanDid Right ( And 5 It Did Wrong ) .
Right: Fun tone
Zack Snyder curated the DCEU with a low tone thathad Superman and Batman kill citizenry , pellet that were so darkly alight that it was hard to see what was going on , and over - the - top attempts at being the edgy alternative to Marvel . gratefully , Patty Jenkins remedied that with the lively , lighthearted , humorous tonus ofWonder Woman . Warner Bros. realized that the way forward with their filmed DC Comics universe was to stick with this fun tone , so they allow James Wan go untamed with the fun scene ofAquamanand the movie is all the in force for it .
Wrong: Sound design
Part of the hullabaloo of seeing a movie on the large screen is get your senses attacked , butAquamanwas just so unnecessarily loud . A lot of Hollywood blockbusters have the problem where the military action is right smart too loud and the dialogue is right smart too unruffled , so you ca n’t hear what anyone ’s say , but you do hear too much of what everyone ’s doing . Aquamanis a in particular egregious example of this , come out with the initiative action position piece in which Atlantean guard duty stream the house and capture Arthur Curry ’s female parent . The tender , emotional moment fall by the wayside as the rest is just deafening racket .
Right: Jason Momoa’s performance
mold the role of Aquaman must have been a challenge for Warner Bros. , because for decade , the character had been a laughing store . They had to cast someone genuinely mesmerizing and charming and badass to get audiences to manage about him . And they gotthe most mesmerizing , magical badass in all of Hollywood : Jason Momoa .
Momoa was the stark choice to bring Arthur Curry , and his functioning inAquamanis easily the best part of the moving-picture show . If it was n’t for Momoa ’s effortless charisma and consignment to the role , there ’s no way of life thatAquamanwould’ve worked anywhere well-nigh as well .
Wrong: Attempting Marvel-style quips
The dialog in the MCU has been mostly sally - base since Joss Whedon , the king of epigram , established the enfranchisement ’s house way as such with his Phase 1 capper , The Avengers . The DCEU has never been as successful with quippy talks , and inAquaman , it seems as though the studio apartment requested that the screenwriters include some Marvel - style quips , and they just do n’t figure out as well .
For case , Arthur Curry confronting some pirates on a submarine and saying , “ permit to fall alongside , ” does n’t have the same ring to it as Tony Stark come near an invading alien and state , “ Earth is closed today . ”
Right: Main villain
Orm is the primary scoundrel inAquaman , and he ’s everything a villain should be . As the half - chum of Arthur Curry and a competitor for the can of Atlantis , he has a personal connection to the narrative ’s Cuban sandwich that adds an emotional element to the interest beyond the political cause for their conflict . Orm is somewhat sympathetic , since he wants to overrun the airfoil world to prevent them from further pollute the ocean , which in reality makes sense . It ’s reminiscent of Erik Killmonger inBlack Panther — you may see where he ’s coming from , even if you dissent with how he ’s going about it .
Wrong: Secondary villain
As smashing asAquaman ’s elemental baddie is , the secondary villain leaves a lot to be desire . Black Manta does n’t really have a place in the plot , he barely presents a menace to the hero , and his motivating are idle . He ’s mad at Aquaman for supposedly kill his Father of the Church , but Aquaman did n’t drink down his male parent — he just neglected to save him in guild to save all the innocent people that he and his Padre were on that submarine to obliterate in the first place . Black Manta is a massive dissimulator . His entire role in this movie seems to have beento set him up as the villain for the subsequence , which is n’t well enough .
Right: Worldbuilding
One of the toughest thing to do in a big - budget heroic blockbuster is worldbuilding . To establish the story ’s world without disrupt the story itself is a difficult task — one that ’s been subdue by the the like of J.R.R. Tolkien , George R.R. Martin , and the Wachowskis . James Wan can now be added to that inclination , because the worldbuilding inAquamanis salient . Every scene function as a part of the plotandas an intromission to some emplacement or procedure or organization within the world of Atlantis . Along with Patty Jenkins ’ designing of Themyscira , Wan ’s innovation of Atlantis has help to give the DCEU a actual sense of place .
Wrong: Interrupting every exposition scene with an explosion
fairly much every time some characters are switch exposition throughoutAquaman , the conversation is interrupted by an disconnected explosion that blows all the type away . It happens when the Atlantean politicians are talk shop class . It happen when Aquaman and Mera are blab to Vulko in a sunken ship . It happens when Aquaman and Mera are searching for the trident in Sicily . At a certain point , it becomes tiresome and predictable . for certain there ’s another way to segue from a quiet dialogue - drive picture to an action scene than but blowing everyone up . reuse that instant over and over again is just lazy .
Right: Massive final battle
fan go into superhero motion-picture show expect a big fight episode at the end . As a solvent , only a few of those engagement — the Battle of New York inThe Avengers , Wolverine keep the young variation from his unforgiving knockoff inLogan , Diana taking on Ares inWonder Womanetc . — abide out among the gang .
The last act ofAquaman , which sees the Seven Kingdoms of Atlantis go nous - to - head in an heroic conflict , is one of the climactic battle that stand out . Armies made up of all kinds of sea creatures ( shark , whales , squids , even brine ) go to warfare in a breathtaking cinematic spectacle .
Wrong: Not exploring the environmentalist message further
The villain ’s motivation inAquamanis to destroy the surface world for having polluted all the sea . This is a real - human race issue . Humanity actually has foul the ocean andwe are callously wiping out marine aliveness with our absurdly wasteful acculturation . Arthur Curry believe that humanity is worth save , so he saves it . But humanity does n’t pick up any lesson from it . The movie does n’t explore the environmentalist issues it raise further than giving the bad guy rope a valid reasonableness to hate the human race . It would ’ve been exciting to see the film dive deeper into this topic and take a mirror up to mankind .
NEXT:5 Things Batfleck mother Right ( & 5 It bring Wrong )
